Matcha Parfait – Matcha Kuzumochi and Dango Recipe

Once you make the matcha kuzumochi and dango, all that's left to do is to assemble your parfait with ice cream, sweet red beans and other stuff you like.

(2024 updated photo:)

One of the first things I ate in Kyoto was a matcha parfait (right after some awesome sabazushi). Being my first day in Japan and having communicated successfully in Japanese with the locals without offending anyone, eating the giant green tea sundae at the end of the day was almost like a celebration. This is my little homage to that moment.

Kuzumochi is made with kudzu starch, which is itself made from the kudzu plant. It can be made really soft and gooey, or like a more solid jelly – I'm making the latter here. The only difference is that you need less water for a firmer kuzumochi recipe.

This matcha kuzumochi recipe is perfect for making to be eaten with ice cream and in parfaits (sundaes), but you you can also enjoy matcha kuzumochi by itself, or drizzled with a little cold brown sugar syrup and dusted with kinako (roasted soybean) powder.

You can also watch me make kuzumochi on my YouTube channel, Tashcakes:

Ready? Let's go.

Ingredients for Matcha Kuzumochi

50g kudzu flour
2 tbsp caster sugar
1 tbsp matcha powder
250ml water

Ingredients for Dango

100g glutinous rice flour or shiratamako
2 tbsp caster sugar
100ml water
Food colouring (optional)

Kuzumochi Method:

1) In a small saucepan, stir the kudzu flour and caster sugar together.

2) Place the matcha in a small bowl and whisk a little of the water into it, as if you're making matcha tea (preferably with a bamboo whisk). Then stir in the rest of the water.

3) Gradually stir your matcha water into the dry ingredients in the saucepan until combined.

4) Switch the heat on to medium and stir constantly until the mixture becomes super thick and transluscent. Carry on cooking and stirring for another minute.

It's turning!

 5) Scrape into a foil-lined, lightly-oiled pan and lay some clingfilm over the top (use this and your hands to smooth the top down). Leave it to cool completely before popping in the fridge for an hour. Now you can cut it into little bite-sized squares ready to be eaten.

It looks like snot now but it does turn opaque again as it cools.

Dango Method:


1) Stir the dry ingredients together, then stir in the water, changing to your hands when it gets stiff so you can knead it into a dough.

2) If you want to colour your dough, grab a handful of however much you want to colour and hand-knead some food colouring in (a few drops of paste food colouring will do, and won't change the consistency of the dough as much as liquid food colouring). Roll the dough into little balls.

3) Bring a medium sized saucepan of water to the boil, and turn down to a simmer. Pop the dough balls in: as soon as they start to float (about five minutes), let them simmer for another two minutes, then 'rescue' them with a slotted spoon and dunk straight into a bowl of icy water to cool down (they'll sink back down, this is fine).

4) When completely cool, drain and use.

To Serve:

Layer up a few dango and kuzumochi squares with ice cream, anko (sweet red beans), whipped cream and bits of cake of biscuits – anything you like. As you can see, I've gone for the very Japanese Pocky (mostly because there is always Pocky in my kitchen cupboard and I felt like it was appropriate).

Have fun and enjoy!